The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic, by Breanne Randall – Book Blitz (Spotlight)

31 October 2023 by Melissa

I’m so excited to be introducing Breanne Randall’s debut novel on Halloween! It’s the perfect read for a crisp, autumn evening. Pair it with sliced apples and sharp cheddar cheese.

About the book, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

Publisher: ‎ Alcove Press (September 19, 2023)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length‎ 336 pages

For fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls this charming debut novel and TikTok sensation is packed full of romance, charm and plenty of magic…

Revelare witches are cursed. As long as they use their magic, they are doomed to four heartbreaks.

So far, Sadie Revelare has experienced three – the devastating departure of her mother and the loss of her brother. And the most painful heartbreak of all: Jake McNealy, her first love. Ever since, Sadie has done everything she can to protect herself from more pain.

But now Sadie’s beloved grandmother is sick. And without her, Sadie isn’t sure she will have the strength to keep her family and her magic together.

As Sadie’s carefully structured life begins to unravel, Jake returns to town after a decade away. And in the face of a final heartbreak that could tear Sadie apart, she must decide once and for all: is love more important than magic?

The perfect read for anyone looking for a cozy and warm, witchy novel to curl up with this autumn.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Goodreads

About the author, Breanne Randall

Breanne Randall is a freelance writer by trade and an author by vocation. She graduated with honors with degrees in English Literature, Psychology, and Religious Studies, and her articles have been published in national magazines such as Parents, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle et al. as well as regular contributions to sites such as Disney Family, SheKnows, Bustle, et al. A seasoned traveler, she imbues her stories with the magic and culture collected from the over forty countries she’s visited.

Breanne lives in the sleepy foothills of Northern California with her husband, two daughters, and a slew of farm animals. When she’s not writing, you can find her wandering the property searching for fairy portals or serving elaborate stuffed animal tea parties.

Connect with Breanne:

Instagram | X (Twitter)

The Memory Painter, by Gwendolyn Womack (@Gwen_Womack) #BookBlast #Giveaway

10 July 2015 by Melissa

About the book, The Memory Painter

Publisher: Picador (April 28, 2015)
Formats: eBook, Hardcover, Audio
Pages: 336
Genre: Supernatural Historical Thriller/Romance

What if there was a drug that could help you remember past lives?

What if the lives you remembered could lead you to your one true love?

What if you learned that, for thousands of years, a deadly enemy had conspired to keep the two of you apart?

Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist whose paintings have dazzled the world. But there’s a secret to his success: Every canvas is inspired by an unusually vivid dream. When Bryan awakes, he possesses extraordinary new skills…like the ability to speak obscure languages and an inexplicable genius for chess. All his life, he has wondered if his dreams are recollections, if he is re-experiencing other people’s lives.

Linz Jacobs is a brilliant neurogeneticist, absorbed in decoding the genes that help the brain make memories, until she is confronted with an exact rendering of a recurring nightmare at one of Bryan’s shows. She tracks down the elusive artist, and their meeting triggers Bryan’s most powerful dream yet: visions of a team of scientists who, on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s, died in a lab explosion decades ago.

As Bryan becomes obsessed with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the scientists’ deaths, his dreams begin to reveal what happened at the lab, as well as a deeper mystery that may lead all the way to ancient Egypt. Together, Bryan and Linz start to discern a pattern. But a deadly enemy watches their every move, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that the past stays buried.

A taut thriller and a timeless love story spanning six continents and 10,000 years of history, The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack is a riveting debut novel unlike any you’ve ever read.

Buy, read, and discuss The Memory Painter

Read an Excerpt of The Memory Painter

CLICK TO READ AN EXCERPT.

Watch the official book trailer for The Memory Keeper

About the Author Gwendolyn Womack

Originally from Houston, Texas, Gwendolyn Womack began writing theater plays in college while freezing in the tundra at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. During that time she lived in St. Petersburg, Russia on an independent study working with theater companies. She went on to receive an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Directing theater and film where she was encouraged to write her own material. After graduating she focused on writing feature screenplays and was a semi-finalist in the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. In 2009 she moved to Japan and began THE MEMORY PAINTER the following year. Currently she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son where she can be found at the keyboard working on her next novel.

THE MEMORY PAINTER is her first novel.

Connect with Gwendolyn

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter

Giveaway

To enter to win a signed copy of The Memory Painter, please enter via the GLEAM form below.

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on July 15th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open internationally.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

The Memory Painter

The Memory Painter Book Blast Schedule

Wednesday, July 1
Passages to the Past

Thursday, July 2
The Never-Ending Book
What Is That Book About

Friday, July 3
Bibliophilia, Please

Saturday, July 4
The Reading Queen

Sunday, July 5
CelticLady’s Reviews

Monday, July 6
Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Tuesday, July 7
A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, July 8
A Bookish Affair
Book Lovers Paradise

Thursday, July 9
Room With Books

Friday, July 10
Bibliotica

Saturday, July 11
Just One More Chapter

Sunday, July 12
Broken Teepee

Monday, July 13
100 Pages a Day

Wednesday, July 15
Genre Queen

The Betrayed, by Heather Graham (@heathergraham) – Review

15 October 2014 by Melissa

About the book, The Betrayed

Series: Krewe of Hunters

Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (September 30, 2014)

One night, New York FBI agent Aiden Mahoney receives a visitor in a dream—an old friend named Richard Highsmith. The very next day he’s sent to Sleepy Hollow because Richard’s gone missing there.

Maureen—Mo—Deauville now lives in the historic town and works with her dog, Rollo, to search for missing people. She’s actually the one to find Richard…or more precisely his head, stuck on a statue of the legendary Headless Horseman.

Mo and Aiden, a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI’s unit of paranormal investigators, explore both past and present events to figure out who betrayed Richard, who killed him and now wants to kill them, too. As they work together, they discover that they share an unusual trait—the ability to communicate with the dead. They also share an attraction that’s as intense as it is unexpected…if they live long enough to enjoy it!

Buy, read, and discuss The Betrayed

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Heather Graham

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels and has been published in more than 20 languages. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer and the mother of five, she enjoys her south Florida home, but loves to travel as well, from locations such as Cairo, Egypt, to her own backyard, the Florida Keys. Reading is still the pastime she still loves best, and she is a member of many writing groups. She’s a winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, and also the founder of The Slush Pile Players, an author band and theatrical group.

Heather annually hosts the Writers for New Orleans conference to benefit both the city, which is near and dear to her heart, and various other causes, and she hosts a ball each year at the RT Booklovers Convention to benefit pediatric AIDS foundations.

Connect with Heather

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

After I reviewed Heather Graham’s The Hexed a few weeks ago, I fell so much in love with the world she’s created that I ran right out and bought (well, okay, I used my iPad in my pajamas and clicked to get the kindle edition) the second in this Krewe of Hunters series, The Cursed.

And, just as when I read The Hexed, once I started reading The Cursed, I couldn’t put it down. The same is true of this book, The Betrayed.

This one takes place in Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, and while it’s a more reality-based Sleepy Hollow than the popular TV series (which, I confess, I enjoy despite the many, many historical inaccuracies), it at least acknowledges that the series exists (and that it’s good for tourism). The new hunter, Aidan Mahoney is everything you want in a paranormal romance hero: sensitive, strong, protective, but never patronizing.

The new female lead, Maureen “Mo” Deauville (who comes with a sidekick in the form of giant Irish Wolfhound Rollo) is funny, spunky, smart, and just a little bit reckless – all the perfect traits for a paranormal romance heroine.

Together they fight crime – cliche, I know, but, it’s what happens. What is NOT cliche is Heather Graham’s uncanny ability to weave historical subplots with contemporary plots, and give us just enough romance to keep the homefires burning softly, but not so much that the plot is overshadowed.

Yes, there are ghosts, and people talk to them, but Graham makes that work, as well, treating the ability to see and speak with the dead as something special, to be savored, and used on the side of good, rather than something sinister.

If you, like me, prefer your spooky stories with believable characters and accurate history, you should grab a copy of The Betrayed right now. Then you should read the rest of Heather Graham’s amazing novels, because you will NOT be disappointed.

Goes well with roasted pumpkin seeds (with garlic salt) and spiced apple cider.

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, see below. For more information, click HERE.

Monday, September 15th: From the TBR Pile

Monday, September 15th: Books a la Mode – Spotlight and giveaway

Tuesday, September 16th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, September 17th: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Friday, September 19th: Supernatural Snark – Spotlight and giveaway

Monday, September 22nd: Read – Love – Blog

Tuesday, September 23rd: A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, September 24th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Thursday, September 25th: Queen of All She Reads

Monday, September 29th: Saints and Sinners Books

Tuesday, September 30th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, October 2nd: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Thursday, October 2nd: Ladybug Literature

Monday, October 6th: Bibliophilia, Please

Wednesday, October 8th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Thursday, October 9th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, October 13th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, October 15th: Bibliotica

Monday, October 20th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf

Thursday, October 23rd: My Shelf Confessions – Wonderfully Wicked Read-A-Thon Giveaway

Thursday, October 23rd: Harlie’s Books

Beyond Coincidence by Jacquie Underdown (@authoraire) – Review & Raffle

30 September 2014 by Melissa

About the book Beyond Coincidence

Publisher: Escape Publishing – Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd (Sept 1, 2014)
ebook, 220 pages
Beyond Coincidence: Mixing romance, history, and a touch of the unexplained comes a new novel from Jacquie Underdown about love that needs to cross oceans and time before finding a place to come true.

In 2008, 250 Australian and British soldiers are uncovered in a mass grave in Fromelles, France, lost since the Great War. One soldier, bearing the wounds of war so deep it has scarred his soul, cannot be laid to rest just yet.

When Lucy bumps into the achingly sad soldier during a trip to France, she doesn’t, at first glance, realise what he is – a ghost who desperately needs her help. Lucy can’t turn away from someone who needs her, even someone non-corporeal, and they travel back together to Australia in search of answers and, hopefully, some peace.

This chance meeting and unexplainable relationship sets into motion a chain-reaction of delicate coincidences that affect the intertwined lives of family, friends, and lovers in unexpected, beautiful ways.

Buy, read, and discuss Beyond Coincidence

Amazon | iBooks | Goodreads

About the author, Jacquie Underdown

Jacquie resides in hot and steamy Central Queensland, Australia, with her husband and two sons. On permanent hiatus from a profession she doesn’t love, she now spends her time wrapped up in her imagination creating characters and exploring alternative realities.

Jacquie is an author of a number of novels, novellas and short stories that are emotionally driven and possess unique themes beyond the constraints of the physical universe. She strives to offer romance, but with complexity; spirituality, without the religion; and love, with a tantalizing splash of spice.

Her novels express a purpose and offer subtle messages about life, the spirit and, of course, love.

Connect with Jacquie

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts:

I love a good ghost story, and I love a rood romance, so it should come as no surprise that I loved Beyond Coincidence as it combines both. Even better, coffee – my own obsession – is a major theme in the book.

At first Lucy seems like a fairly cookie-cutter romance character, but she quickly becomes much more dimensional, and not only because she can see Freddy, the ghost of a long-dead Australian soldier. I love that she has a dream of opening her own business, and that the author used Lucy’s entrepreneurial spirit in everything she went through in this novel.

Freddy, the ghost, is equally compelling, at once sweet and sorrowful, rugged and wry, with his period slang and big heart. You want to either hug him or slap him on the back and take him out for a friendly drink – or both, but as he lacks corporeal form, one cannot do either. Still, as much as Lucy becomes his champion, he also becomes her protector, as much as he’s able.

And then there’s Nate, the third point in the novel’s triumvirate. He’s Freddy’s descendant, and it becomes obvious very quickly that he and Lucy are going to click, even though our first introduction to him is less than savory. He quickly wins Lucy’s – and our- favor, however, and when he and Freddy join forces, Lucy becomes one of the luckiest women in the world.

Either Freddy’s story or Lucy’s story would make excellent reading fodder, but by combining them author Jacquie Underdown has created something truly special that transcends conventional romance novel tropes. Her plot is solid. Her characters are fantastic. Her use of dialogue is so good that I can hear the Australian accents each character has, and even the nuanced differences in the way each of them speaks.

I would be happy to read more of Lucy and Nate in the future, but I’d be equally happy to discover what comes next.

If you want an entertaining read – perfect for a rainy day, or a long soak in the bath – Beyond Coincidence is an excellent choice.

Goes well with A double latte and lemon pound cake.

This review is part of a blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours, who are also hosting a giveaway raffle. See below to enter. For more information, and to see the complete list of tour stops, click HERE.

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